Longtime NFL assistant and former running back Eric Bieniemy was officially introduced as the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator on Thursday.
The move from the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs to Washington caught some by surprise. While it isn’t a lateral move by any stretch of the imagination, most figured that Bieniemy would be in line for a head coach job given his status as a candidate over the past several cycles.
One individual that’s not necessarily high on the respected offensive mind is former NFL running back LeSean McCoy. The six-time Pro Bowler played under Bieniemy for one season with the Chiefs back in 2019. He isn’t a fan of the assistant coach and made that clear recently.
“What’s his value? What makes him a good offensive coordinator? See the problem is, a lot of these people that go on social media and ‘oh he should be the guy for the job’, they haven’t played there. They’re not in the locker room. I’ve been in the rooms where he’s coaching, and he has nothing to do with the pass game, at all. When the plays are designed, that’s Andy Reid.”
LeSean McCoy on Eric Bieniemy
McCoy is right in that Reid is the primary play caller in Kansas City. However, that has not stopped other offensive coordinators from getting jobs and succeeding as head coaches without play-calling experience. Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins), Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals), Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Vikings) and Nick Sirianni (Philadelphia Eagles) are all current examples.
Related: Eric Bieniemy commits to Sam Howell as Washington Commanders QB1
As for Bieniemy, he took the diplomatic route in responding to McCoy’s criticism during a meet and greet with media on Thursday.
“LeSean McCoy is a future Hall of Famer. Everyone is entitled to their own position. When it’s all said and done with, I think that’s all I have to say, because, he’s entitled to his own opinion. That’s life. You got good and you have bad. It does not impact me in any way,” Bieniemy told reporters.
That’s a mature approach to take in response to a former player taking a cheap shot at you. For Bieniemy, the obvious focus is now on making that transition from a Super Bowl-caliber organization to the hot mess we’ve seen in Maryland over the past several years under embattled owner Daniel Snyder.
As Eric Bieniemy told reporters on Thursday, “one thing that you learn when you’re in this position, you have to learn to eliminate distractions. My job is to focus on the now. Everything outside of these walls has no impact on Eric Bieniemy moving forward.”
Well said.